Ensure all fonttools CLI tools have help documentation (#1948)

Note UI change : `fonttools varLib.models` now takes prefixed options `-d` or `-l` instead of guessing the intended feature from the number of arguments.

We have a number of command line tools which are somewhat opaque. (varLib.models in particular was very confusing.) This ensures that they all use argparse to have a consistent interface, and all have --help documentation which at least details their parameters, and hopefully therefore gives more of a clue about what they do. Those which use logging have had a command-line logging parameter added.

Lib/fontTools/cffLib/width.py

@@ -146,16 +146,30 @@ def optimizeWidths(widths):
 
 	return default, nominal
 
-def main():
+def main(args=None):
 	"""Calculate optimum defaultWidthX/nominalWidthX values"""
-	for fontfile in sys.argv[1:]:
+
+	import argparse
+	parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
+		"fonttools cffLib.width",
+		description=main.__doc__,
+	)
+	parser.add_argument('inputs', metavar='FILE', type=str, nargs='+',
+		help="Input TTF files")
+	parser.add_argument('-b', '--brute-force', dest="brute", action="store_true",
+		help="Use brute-force approach (VERY slow)")
+
+	args = parser.parse_args(args)
+
+	for fontfile in args.inputs:
 		font = TTFont(fontfile)
 		hmtx = font['hmtx']
 		widths = [m[0] for m in hmtx.metrics.values()]
+		if args.brute:
+			default, nominal = optimizeWidthsBruteforce(widths)
+		else:
 			default, nominal = optimizeWidths(widths)
 		print("glyphs=%d default=%d nominal=%d byteCost=%d" % (len(widths), default, nominal, byteCost(widths, default, nominal)))
-		#default, nominal = optimizeWidthsBruteforce(widths)
-		#print("glyphs=%d default=%d nominal=%d byteCost=%d" % (len(widths), default, nominal, byteCost(widths, default, nominal)))
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
 	import sys

Lib/fontTools/mtiLib/__init__.py

@@ -1164,17 +1164,31 @@ def main(args=None, font=None):
 	# comment this out to enable debug messages from mtiLib's logger
 	# log.setLevel(logging.DEBUG)
 
+	import argparse
+	parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
+		"fonttools mtiLib",
+		description=main.__doc__,
+	)
+
+	parser.add_argument('--font', '-f', metavar='FILE', dest="font",
+		help="Input TTF files (used for glyph classes and sorting coverage tables)")
+	parser.add_argument('--table', '-t', metavar='TABLE', dest="tableTag",
+		help="Table to fill (sniffed from input file if not provided)")
+	parser.add_argument('inputs', metavar='FILE', type=str, nargs='+',
+		help="Input FontDame .txt files")
+
+	args = parser.parse_args(args)
+
 	if font is None:
+		if args.font:
+			font = ttLib.TTFont(args.font)
+		else:
 			font = MockFont()
 
-	tableTag = None
+	for f in args.inputs:
-	if args[0].startswith('-t'):
-		tableTag = args[0][2:]
-		del args[0]
-	for f in args:
 		log.debug("Processing %s", f)
 		with open(f, 'rt', encoding="utf-8") as f:
-			table = build(f, font, tableTag=tableTag)
+			table = build(f, font, tableTag=args.tableTag)
 		blob = table.compile(font) # Make sure it compiles
 		decompiled = table.__class__()
 		decompiled.decompile(blob, font) # Make sure it decompiles!

Lib/fontTools/ttLib/woff2.py

@@ -1395,6 +1395,17 @@ def main(args=None):
 	from fontTools import configLogger
 	from fontTools.ttx import makeOutputFileName
 
+	class _HelpAction(argparse._HelpAction):
+
+		def __call__(self, parser, namespace, values, option_string=None):
+			subparsers_actions = [
+					action for action in parser._actions
+					if isinstance(action, argparse._SubParsersAction)]
+			for subparsers_action in subparsers_actions:
+					for choice, subparser in subparsers_action.choices.items():
+							print(subparser.format_help())
+			parser.exit()
+
 	class _NoGlyfTransformAction(argparse.Action):
 		def __call__(self, parser, namespace, values, option_string=None):
 			namespace.transform_tables.difference_update({"glyf", "loca"})
@@ -1405,12 +1416,18 @@ def main(args=None):
 
 	parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
 		prog="fonttools ttLib.woff2",
-		description=main.__doc__
+		description=main.__doc__,
+		add_help = False
 	)
 
+	parser.add_argument('-h', '--help', action=_HelpAction,
+		help='show this help message and exit')
+
 	parser_group = parser.add_subparsers(title="sub-commands")
-	parser_compress = parser_group.add_parser("compress")
+	parser_compress = parser_group.add_parser("compress",
-	parser_decompress = parser_group.add_parser("decompress")
+		description = "Compress a TTF or OTF font to WOFF2")
+	parser_decompress = parser_group.add_parser("decompress",
+		description = "Decompress a WOFF2 font to OTF")
 
 	for subparser in (parser_compress, parser_decompress):
 		group = subparser.add_mutually_exclusive_group(required=False)

Lib/fontTools/varLib/__init__.py

@@ -1011,7 +1011,7 @@ def main(args=None):
 	from argparse import ArgumentParser
 	from fontTools import configLogger
 
-	parser = ArgumentParser(prog='varLib')
+	parser = ArgumentParser(prog='varLib', description = main.__doc__)
 	parser.add_argument('designspace')
 	parser.add_argument(
 		'-o',

Lib/fontTools/varLib/interpolatable.py

@@ -157,23 +157,31 @@ def test(glyphsets, glyphs=None, names=None):
 	#for x in hist:
 	#	print(x)
 
-def main(args):
+def main(args=None):
 	"""Test for interpolatability issues between fonts"""
-	filenames = args
+	import argparse
+	parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
+		"fonttools varLib.interpolatable",
+		description=main.__doc__,
+	)
+	parser.add_argument('inputs', metavar='FILE', type=str, nargs='+',
+		help="Input TTF files")
+
+	args = parser.parse_args(args)
 	glyphs = None
 	#glyphs = ['uni08DB', 'uniFD76']
 	#glyphs = ['uni08DE', 'uni0034']
 	#glyphs = ['uni08DE', 'uni0034', 'uni0751', 'uni0753', 'uni0754', 'uni08A4', 'uni08A4.fina', 'uni08A5.fina']
 
 	from os.path import basename
-	names = [basename(filename).rsplit('.', 1)[0] for filename in filenames]
+	names = [basename(filename).rsplit('.', 1)[0] for filename in args.inputs]
 
 	from fontTools.ttLib import TTFont
-	fonts = [TTFont(filename) for filename in filenames]
+	fonts = [TTFont(filename) for filename in args.inputs]
 
 	glyphsets = [font.getGlyphSet() for font in fonts]
 	test(glyphsets, glyphs=glyphs, names=names)
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
 	import sys
-	main(sys.argv[1:])
+	main()

Lib/fontTools/varLib/interpolate_layout.py

@@ -60,28 +60,40 @@ def interpolate_layout(designspace, loc, master_finder=lambda s:s, mapped=False)
 def main(args=None):
 	"""Interpolate GDEF/GPOS/GSUB tables for a point on a designspace"""
 	from fontTools import configLogger
-
+	import argparse
 	import sys
-	if args is None:
-		args = sys.argv[1:]
 
-	designspace_filename = args[0]
+	parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
-	locargs = args[1:]
+		"fonttools varLib.interpolate_layout",
-	outfile = os.path.splitext(designspace_filename)[0] + '-instance.ttf'
+		description=main.__doc__,
+	)
+	parser.add_argument('designspace_filename', metavar='DESIGNSPACE',
+		help="Input TTF files")
+	parser.add_argument('locations', metavar='LOCATION', type=str, nargs='+',
+		help="Axis locations (e.g. wdth=120")
+	parser.add_argument('-o', '--output', metavar='OUTPUT',
+		help="Output font file (defaults to <designspacename>-instance.ttf)")
+	parser.add_argument('-l', '--loglevel', metavar='LEVEL', default="INFO",
+		help="Logging level (defaults to INFO)")
 
-	# TODO: allow user to configure logging via command-line options
+
-	configLogger(level="INFO")
+	args = parser.parse_args(args)
+
+	if not args.output:
+		args.output = os.path.splitext(args.designspace_filename)[0] + '-instance.ttf'
+
+	configLogger(level=args.loglevel)
 
 	finder = lambda s: s.replace('master_ufo', 'master_ttf_interpolatable').replace('.ufo', '.ttf')
 
 	loc = {}
-	for arg in locargs:
+	for arg in args.locations:
 		tag,val = arg.split('=')
 		loc[tag] = float(val)
 
-	font = interpolate_layout(designspace_filename, loc, finder)
+	font = interpolate_layout(args.designspace_filename, loc, finder)
-	log.info("Saving font %s", outfile)
+	log.info("Saving font %s", args.output)
-	font.save(outfile)
+	font.save(args.output)
 
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":

Lib/fontTools/varLib/models.py

@@ -422,27 +422,32 @@ def piecewiseLinearMap(v, mapping):
 	return va + (vb - va) * (v - a) / (b - a)
 
 
-def main(args):
+def main(args=None):
 	"""Normalize locations on a given designspace"""
 	from fontTools import configLogger
+	import argparse
 
-	args = args[1:]
+	parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
+		"fonttools varLib.models",
+		description=main.__doc__,
+	)
+	parser.add_argument('--loglevel', metavar='LEVEL', default="INFO",
+		help="Logging level (defaults to INFO)")
 
-	# TODO: allow user to configure logging via command-line options
+	group = parser.add_mutually_exclusive_group(required=True)
-	configLogger(level="INFO")
+	group.add_argument('-d', '--designspace',metavar="DESIGNSPACE",type=str)
+	group.add_argument('-l', '--locations', metavar='LOCATION', nargs='+',
+		help="Master locations as comma-separate coordinates. One must be all zeros.")
 
-	if len(args) < 1:
+	args = parser.parse_args(args)
-		print("usage: fonttools varLib.models source.designspace", file=sys.stderr)
-		print("  or")
-		print("usage: fonttools varLib.models location1 location2 ...", file=sys.stderr)
-		sys.exit(1)
 
+	configLogger(level=args.loglevel)
 	from pprint import pprint
 
-	if len(args) == 1 and args[0].endswith('.designspace'):
+	if args.designspacefile:
 		from fontTools.designspaceLib import DesignSpaceDocument
 		doc = DesignSpaceDocument()
-		doc.read(args[0])
+		doc.read(args.designspacefile)
 		locs = [s.location for s in doc.sources]
 		print("Original locations:")
 		pprint(locs)
@@ -452,7 +457,7 @@ def main(args):
 		pprint(locs)
 	else:
 		axes = [chr(c) for c in range(ord('A'), ord('Z')+1)]
-		locs = [dict(zip(axes, (float(v) for v in s.split(',')))) for s in args]
+		locs = [dict(zip(axes, (float(v) for v in s.split(',')))) for s in args.locations]
 
 	model = VariationModel(locs)
 	print("Sorted locations:")
@@ -464,6 +469,6 @@ if __name__ == "__main__":
 	import doctest, sys
 
 	if len(sys.argv) > 1:
-		sys.exit(main(sys.argv))
+		sys.exit(main())
 
 	sys.exit(doctest.testmod().failed)

Lib/fontTools/varLib/varStore.py

@@ -551,7 +551,7 @@ def main(args=None):
 	from fontTools.ttLib import TTFont
 	from fontTools.ttLib.tables.otBase import OTTableWriter
 
-	parser = ArgumentParser(prog='varLib.varStore')
+	parser = ArgumentParser(prog='varLib.varStore', description= main.__doc__)
 	parser.add_argument('fontfile')
 	parser.add_argument('outfile', nargs='?')
 	options = parser.parse_args(args)